Chapter Fourteen
W hen Paris and Tessa rolled in, she was in his lap, and she was smiling. Greyson couldn’t help but notice that they seemed to have worked through some of their issues. It helped him decide that donating was a good thing to do.
Only, he had stipulations.
If they agreed, he was good to go.
When Tessa saw Emma, she went right to her. She hugged her, and began crying.
“Thank you for this. I know had I been in your place, I wouldn’t have been so kind. I will never be able to thank you.”
Emma wasn’t thrilled, but she also knew that Greyson was carrying the horrible burden of Paris’s injuries on his shoulders. By doing this, he was going to help take away some of the pain.
Hopefully.
“It’s okay, Tessa. You need this, and we’re a family.”
Paris pushed out of his chair and slowly approached Emma. “I hear you’re having a baby. Maybe our children can be best friends, and they’ll always have each other.”
She saw the hope.
The fear.
The pain.
The anguish.
They were expecting her to stop it. She could tell that they really believed she’d tell her husband not to do it, but she couldn’t. No one told Greyson what to do, and she also felt horrible for them.
“I think that would be an amazing thing. I can’t wait to throw you a baby shower,” she said with no animosity in her voice.
How could she have any?
They would love this child, and technically, it would be her child’s half-sibling.
“Before we start planning anything,” Delilah said, pulling out her papers. “We have to talk the legality of it.”
That surprised both Paris and Tessa.
Greyson sat, and Emma moved into his lap so her husband would understand that she supported his decision.
“I hope you understand,” Greyson said, “but I want to make sure that all of this is handled now.”
Paris and Tessa sat.
“Okay,” Paris said, watching them with wariness.
Delilah began. “As the legal representation for my client, I’ve been asked to draw up a contract. Here’s the gist of it. You, the receiving party of Greyson’s donation, will have only one legal obligation.”
Paris could feel his heart thump.
“And that would be?”
“That if anything were to happen to you or Tessa, the child would then be offered for legal guardianship to Greyson and Emma.”
They were surprised.
“Oh,” Paris said.
“It’s technically my child,” Greyson stated. “I would need to know that he or she was okay, say if you were to leave us, or move across the country.”
Paris got it.
“I agree to that. Tessa?” he asked.
“I’m good with that. I don’t have any family other than you guys,” Tessa said.
Delilah moved down the contract to the next part.
“Okay, and for the party donating the sperm, here’s what he’s agreed to,” she said, pulling out the paper.
It was handed to Paris and Tessa.
They read it.
And looked up.
“Greyson.”
He stopped them from saying anything. “I will make one donation. You are welcome to have your doctor freeze any sperm not used for this round. If you want more than one child, I’m okay with that, Paris and Tessa, but I’m doing this once. This isn’t easy for Emma. I have to take her heart into consideration too.”
They were all surprised.
“Emma, if you can’t…”
She stopped Tessa. “I can, and we will. Just let him continue.”
“You’ll have to agree to me setting up a trust fund for each child, as it’s born. As our gift to you, I want to ensure that any children you have will be able to have the same education, same opportunity, and same life as our child.”
“That’s insane,” Paris said. “Grey, you don’t have to…”
He stopped him again.
This mattered to him, and he wanted to protect his wife as much as possible.
“All of this is to be kept silent. Again, it’s not about you, or about me. This is about Emma.”
They looked at her.
“I love you both, but I’m sharing my husband with you both,” she said, wiping her eyes. “We want to help you, but I don’t think I could handle it if word spread.”
Greyson held her. “If the media were to get wind of this, they’d torment her. Every day, you’d see stories about how I’m populating the world and how I’m cheating.”
Tessa gasped.
She’d never thought about that.
“I’m happy to help you both and share this with you, but I have to worry about the woman I love too.”
They got it.
“Emma, thank you.”
She nodded.
“Once my sperm hits that sample cup, you’re the father, Paris. I know you’ll be an amazing dad, and I wouldn’t do this for many people. That should tell you how much faith I have in you both.”
Tessa began crying.
“That’s it. That’s all I want.”
Delilah handed them a pen.
They knew they were getting the better deal. They were getting the family’s protection, their child or children would have a chance, and they would forever be part of the people they loved.
They both signed.
“I’ll be accompanying you to the IVF, and paying for it,” Greyson stated.
Paris went to object.
“You didn’t read the fine print,” he said. “After the wedding, I’ll be there to make my donation.”
Paris got up, and he headed toward his friend. “You are my brother. This just proves it.”
Greyson hugged him back.
“This family will grow and be full of love,” Emma said, hugging Tessa. “That’s a beautiful gift, and I hope everything works for you.”
“If you can’t do this, Emma,” Tessa began, “I can get an anonymous donor. I don’t want to hurt you.”
She hugged her. “I’m on board. Greyson needs to do this, and you need this child. I understand.”
Greyson opened his arms and held his wife.
No one missed how he crooned, privately, into her ear. She clung to him, and his hand went gently to her midsection and the life they’d created.
“Now that everything is legal, I’ll make sure you both get copies. Greyson’s name will be redacted in case they were to get out,” she said.
“We understand,” Paris said.
Delilah took the papers. Before she could put them away, the alarms all around the house began going off.
Greyson glanced at Emma. “Stay here. Someone has breached the gate.”
With that, he took off.
Elizabeth was ready.
Her spiffy husband had called off the guards, and all she needed was to clear the massive gate.
She was going to go over and hopefully, there were no dogs. She’d studied Greyson’s layout, since the FBI had been gracious enough to enter it into the database.
She knew where she was going, and that meant one thing.
It was time.
As she reached the gate, on the desert side of the property, she began her climb. It didn’t take much effort to climb it. As soon as she crossed over, dropping to the ground, the alarms went off.
Perfect.
She knew what was coming.
As she walked toward the back of the house, near the pool, two men came running out, and she recognized them.
Dimitri Gideon, AKA Maximillian Marchenko and Captain Christopher Ford, the ex-homicide captain.
Again, she’d studied them.
Perfect.
She must have caught them off guard because the second she saw them, there was that look on their face. Then Dimitri saw she was armed, and he wasn’t taking any chances.
He rushed her, and she kicked his ass. He didn’t see it coming, but he was milking his right shoulder. That gave her the advantage in the fight.
Elizabeth was no stranger to hand-to-hand combat, and she’d been training the last couple weeks since the Bonnie debacle.
She was in the best shape of her life, and she was angry enough to enjoy it.
When he kept going at her with his weaker left arm, she took that opportunity.
She hit him right in the sweet spot.
Blood formed on his shirt, and he went to his knees before she grabbed his one gun out of the back of his pants and kicked him into the pool.
Then she was up and moving toward the second man as she tucked away Dimitri’s sidearm.
Chris got into position, and he wasn’t going to let the woman past him.
He pulled his gun.
His hesitation was a huge mistake. Before he could even aim it, she pulled out her Taser and zapped him in the torso. His body reacted, and he was down.
Behind her, she saw Dimitri coming at her again. He went in low, and they rolled. She came up on top.
She hit him in the neck, and he was out.
More people came running out of the house at the ruckus.
Greyson stopped in his tracks.
“What the…?”
He looked around. Chris was struggling to get up, and Dimitri was out cold.
Emma raced toward the two men.
“Howdy,” she said, smiling at them.
Croft couldn’t believe it. There stood Elizabeth Blackhawk and she was there dressed in all black.
Yeah, and two of their security had been neutralized.
Jesus.
They had issues.
She pulled off her sunglasses and didn’t have a scratch on her. “Get them inside. This is a special, classified delivery from the big guy. You needed a briefing, and I’m your special delivery service.”
Emma helped Chris to his feet, and the detective and Tessa dragged Dimitri.
“He’ll be awake in about two minutes. Got coffee?” she asked, walking past Croft.
He couldn’t believe it.
He followed her inside.
“Ethan said someone was going to be dropping off stuff, but he didn’t mention you’d be breaking in, kicking my security’s ass, and…”
And what?
Why was he surprised?
Ethan used this woman as his muscle more than once. That was no shock. What was surprising was Dimitri and Chris couldn’t take her.
She knew what he was thinking.
“His arm is injured, and he doesn’t like to hit women. I’ve studied him. He was taking it easy on me. Big mistake.”
Yeah, he could see that.
“Plus, add in that he was overcompensating with his left arm, and it left him open. The other one…he should have been wearing body armor. You have a shit mess, and he’s not protected.”
She tapped her chest as Emma handed her a mug of coffee.
“Thank you, Mrs. Croft. I’m surprised you weren’t out there trying to kick my ass too.”
Emma didn’t know what to say. She’d heard about Elizabeth, and she’d seen her on TV, but she’d never actually met her other than when Greyson handed in his badge.
“He’s going to be pissed,” she said, pointing at Dimitri.
Elizabeth smiled. “Yeah, well, like I said, I wouldn’t have been able to take him if he didn’t see tits and think I needed to be handled with care. That’s on him, not me.”
Dimitri moaned.
“Wake up, my favorite Russian in the whole world.”
He opened his eyes and glared at her. “I don’t like her,” he muttered.
Chris was with him.
“Well, if you’re going to get all bitchy about it, I can take my FBI briefing and go home.”
“NO!” Greyson said. “Ignore them. They don’t like being beat up by girls.”
Dimitri began cursing in Russian.
She gave it right back and that surprised him.
“Nice, but I speak a few languages. Try Finnish. I haven’t learned that one yet, pretty boy.”
He blotted his split lip with his wet sleeve.
“What’s going on?” Emma asked.
“Well, to put it delicately,” she said, hopping up onto the counter, “you’ve got trouble, and I don’t mean me.”
Greyson respected this woman, simply because he knew she was a damn good investigator. The fact that she could handle his security also impressed him.
“We know. That’s why I called Ethan and asked for his assistance.”
She got down to business.
“If you look out front, half your issue is handled, but the worst is yet to come. Ethan got the eavesdroppers off your ass for the next few days.”
“Are we going to ignore that she broke in here?” Dimitri asked.
Elizabeth focused her icy blue gaze at him. “I didn’t sneak in. I vaulted your fence. You need better security,” she said.
Dimitri moved toward her.
She smiled. “I have your gun, ace. You have a bad arm, and are off your game. You used to be so much more effective.”
Greyson stopped her. “Don’t provoke.”
She shrugged. “Sure thing. Anyway, you’ve decided to poke a sex ring—one that the Feds haven’t been able to uncover.”
“Is it bad?” Greyson asked.
“We have one name. Anthony…”
He finished for her. “Delmarco.”
“Yep. You really fell into something this time. Whoever picked this case…?”
Greyson raised his hand. “I guarantee it’s the last one I will ever pick. This is Dimitri’s job anymore.”
He was glad to hear that.
Reaching around her back, Dimitri placed his body in front of Greyson and Emma.
“Calm down. I like Greyson. I’m not going to hurt him,” she said laughing. “Will you tell your muscle to have a seat, and to start wearing body armor and more than one gun?” she said, pulling his.
She popped the clip and discharged the one bullet.
Then she tossed him the empty gun.
“I swear to God, I really don’t like her.”
Emma pulled out the chair beside her so she could look at his shoulder. There was a circle of blood on his wet shirt. “Dimitri, sit. She’s doing us a favor.”
Greyson agreed. “Ethan and Elizabeth are my inside in the FBI. She won’t hurt me.”
She opened a folder that she pulled out of the back of her pants.
“Here’s a second name for you. We picked up on a Louis Mateo. He has a partner, and I don’t mean Delmarco. The FBI hasn’t moved on him, simply because we want BOTH people, and we didn’t have a visual on either man.”
Greyson took the paper.
“Ethan believes that the reason the FBI can’t help is the mole, and also that they are waiting us out. I wouldn’t be shocked if they are watching until they can get some breathing room. Before, they were moving more women. Now, they are moving one at a time, and mostly to sexual predators in this area.”
Greyson scanned the intel.
Some of it was blacked out.
That meant it was classified.
Well, shit.
It made him sick that Julie likely had been passed off to a person who was going to rape and kill her.
“It’s not looking good,” he admitted.
Immediately, Dimitri knew what he was talking about. The chances were that Marissa’s sister was already out of their reach and dead.
“If you’re looking for this girl, you won’t get her back alive. I hate to be the one to ruin your day, but she’s gone.”
They figured.
“The girls have been showing up, but in morgues all over the country. New York, Houston, and here.”
She sipped her coffee as Dimitri eyed her up. “What?” she asked.
“I don’t like you.”
“Aww, pumpkin, now you hurt my feelings. Do you dislike me because I kicked your ass into the pool or because you like being the only killer in the room?”
No one said anything.
“Yeah, I know everything about you.”
Dimitri didn’t move. He was watching her like she was going to strike.
“Back to who is running this…” Greyson said, trying to protect his friend.
“No clue. Your job, according to my hubby, is to find Delmarco, Mateo, and the mystery third person. What we do know is someone is taking women from everywhere and selling them. Detective Henderson, your dead nameless girls are part of it.”
“Uh, how do you know?”
She smiled.
“It’s my job to know. Yours is to take what I know and run with it. We’re on the same page, and hopefully, Greyson has enough clout on the dark side to figure this out.”
“And Ethan?”
“We held up our half of the bargain. The FBI vans are gone, and the teams are backing off the sex ring—in hopes someone will come out of hiding. He’s bought you a week at the most. I’d use it well.”
Emma offered her a danish.
“Thank you, Emma, but I’ll grab a bite on the jet home, oh, and some breakfast.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I don’t blame you,” Emma said.
Greyson looked at her. “Well, she knows her husband is attractive. I hardly doubt I’m the first person to make that observation.”
He rolled his eyes.
“For the record, I’m fond of both of them,” Elizabeth stated. “I’m a Native chasing hussy. Sue me.”
Detective Riley Henderson was curious. “How bad is this going to be?” he asked. “I’ve got a mess of my own.”
“Yeah, I heard about it. Your boss is a douchebag. Get used to it. I work for one, too, and I don’t mean Gabe or my husband.”
Greyson got it.
The President of the United States was a nightmare to anyone who had to work with him.
He knew that first hand.
“Vegas is a mess,” Riley stated.
“Oh, darlin’, you have no idea. That’s why I’m here. I get to give you the info. You have some things heading this way, and y’all need to be careful.”
“I can legally slow them down,” Delilah offered.
Elizabeth laughed. “Oh, princess, that’s amusing. You can’t slow this down.”
Dimitri had enough of her attitude.
“Cops suck.”
“Yeah, crazies suck more. Trust me. I just had to cut a baby out of a woman who was killed. The baby lived. The woman not so much. This is my side gig, thanks to my previously mentioned sucky boss.”
“Okay, brief us,” Greyson stated.
“Ethan wants you to handle this quietly. He’s giving you everything he has, which isn’t much. We know there’s a buyer who is collecting women and taking them out. If you find him, he’s mine. I’m the serial killer hunter. You get the garbage out, and I take down the killer. I’ll likely be back to clean up the mess.”
“How is he killing them?” Riley asked.
He was testing her. She could tell. Cops and Feds didn’t always get along.
“Your first victim, she was Asian, right?”
“Yes.”
She slid him a paper.
“That’s her name?” Riley asked.
Emma thought back to her and Chris’s talk with the stripper. She’d nailed it.
“Yes, that’s Ah-lam Yao. She was a child on the street because she was tired of her parents’ rules. A sexy man came along, by the name of Anthony Delmarco, and he wooed her to a ‘better’ life.”
That’s generally how it happened.
“She was raped, sodomized, and strangled.”
“How do you know?” Riley asked, looking at the paper.
“He’s killed ten girls. She’s not his first. He’s killing them all the same way. They have abrasions on their arms and legs. He likes chains, whips, and to break them.”
They all let that sink in.
She continued, “Your second victim isn’t native to this country. She’s from Mother Russia, and her name is Anastasia Popov. She was taken forcefully by some man, thrown into a van, and then put on a flight. We have her coming into the states, and then she’s gone. They sold her immediately.”
“How was she killed? Same?”
“Yes. Are you done testing me?” she asked. “I can give you more, or we can cut to the profile.”
Greyson jumped in. “Let’s do that.”
“My husband believes you have a white male. European descent. He’s a sexual sadist. He’s buying women because he can’t get them otherwise. He likes to abuse. He hates for a reason. It’s likely because he’s cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.”
Emma laughed.
“You think?”
“There will be more. Don’t be surprised. He’s a sexual sadist who’s leaving a trail.”
Oh, Greyson wouldn’t be.
“Do you have intel on Julie Pierce?”
She nodded. “He bought her a couple weeks ago.”
“If you know this, why can’t you tell us where she is?” Dimitri asked. “Why is the government waiting on this? You’re doing nothing!”
She let him bitch.
“Hey, I’ve got news for you, Mr. Gideon, this is one sex ring in three cities. Do you know how many cities there are here in the good ole’ US of A? We only have so many agents, and if we could wrangle him, we would. You’re going to have a better shot at this maniac.”
“Why?” he asked. “Why are you looking at me like you know something you’re not saying?”
“We know one thing,” she said, hopping off the counter. “One hooker had one conversation with this killer, and she walked away because she wasn’t what he wanted.”
“What?” Greyson asked.
“He’s Russian.”
Chris was staring at her. “You don’t think it’s him, right? I’ll vouch for my friend. Dimitri wouldn’t hurt a woman, let alone an underage one.”
She smiled. “Oh, I know more about your friend than he knows. I am aware he’s not involved. Like I said, we can’t find the ring leader, but we have a few clues about the man buying up these girls like cookies on a Sunday morning.”
Elizabeth headed toward the door.
“Well? Are you going to tell us?” Chris asked.
She stopped at the door and turned. “Does the name Viktor mean anything to you?” she asked.
“Because I’m Russian? So I must know every Russian in Vegas?” he asked sarcastically.
“You have a nice smile, Maximillian Marchenko.”
He didn’t flinch.
“Who?”
She shook her head and laughed. “Listen, I don’t give a shit about what you’ve done in your past. We all have one. What I do know is I have your dossier, and a file that Commissioner Raye was putting together.”
They all held their breath.
“Yeah, he’s got a big ol’ hard on for you. Don’t be shocked.”
He wasn’t.
This wouldn’t be the first time the law tried to nail him with something.
Elizabeth continued, “The man you’re going to want to take down, or avoid like the plague is a man by the name of Viktor Marchenko.”
Dimitri stared. “I don’t know him.”
She laughed. “Do some research. Viktor Marchenko, he’s in town, and he makes you look like an altar boy,” she warned.
Greyson stared at his friend. Somehow, he didn’t think it was a coincidence that they had the same last name.
She rattled something off in Russian, and then smiled at Dimitri.
“You didn’t hear that from me.”
Then she walked through the doors.
When she was gone, Greyson glanced over at him. “What did she say?” he asked.
He didn’t speak, but instead, he looked pale, and not from his shoulder being targeted earlier.
Emma understood most of it. She moved toward Dimitri and touched his arm. “She said he’s your relative.”
He looked down at her, and there was worry in his eyes, and hers.
Greyson had to know.
“Are you related to a man by that name?”
He tried desperately to brush it off, but now he was worried. “That name is like Smith in Russia. There’s a million of them.”
Still, he felt off. The Fed who left seemed so sure of herself, and he was very unsure.
Emma read the paper in the file. “There’s nothing about a Viktor Marchenko in this file.”
“It would be redacted,” Greyson stated. “Ethan would have blocked out anything that was classified.”
Chris didn’t get it. “Then why tell us?”
Greyson knew.
“So, it’s off the record. He’s giving me a heads up on this. We’re going to be looking for a sex ring, and he wants us to find the man who’s buying the girls too.”
Emma was good with that.
Still, her husband was staring at their head of security, and it was making her nervous.
“Really, Grey,” Dimitri offered, seeing the look. “I don’t know that name.”
Chris pointed. “Uh, our pretty Fed left something on the counter where she was perched.”
They all looked over.
“Elizabeth left a tablet?” Emma asked. “She should…”
Greyson stopped her. “She’s giving me a way to look into the FBI files. She’s telling me that this file doesn’t have everything, and if I want to know, I have to break into the database. She’s covering us, and she’s covering Ethan. That tablet will come back stolen. We won’t have much time.”
Chris laughed. “I don’t know if I should hate her or if I should applaud her creativity. She exited without setting off the alarms.”
That had their head of security’s attention.
Dimitri was way off his game. He didn’t even realize that Chris was right. Normally, he’d be all over her until she was off the property. He rushed to the screen on the wall and rewound it. Elizabeth was on the recording. She walked over to the gate, she pushed in a code, and turned to blow him a kiss.
Then she was gone.
“I don’t get her.”
Greyson didn’t care. This was their way into the database. “I’ll do it since Curtis isn’t here.”
He took it and flipped the case open.
There was a note.
‘Roses are pink, geraniums are red. You didn’t find this tablet, or I am dead.’
Despite how serious the situation was, it made Emma laugh. When all the men looked at her, she couldn’t help it.
“You’re just all pissed because she kicked ass, took names, and owned all the cavemen in this castle. I’m impressed.”
Greyson didn’t have to be. He knew her street cred, and it was legit.
He peeled the Post-It note off the tablet, and on the back, there was a code scribbled onto it.
“She gave you the way in,” Emma said.
Yeah, and he was going to use it.
Greyson went in, entered the code, and the file started loading. “I’ll send it to the screen.”
They all watched the large kitchen screen as lots of information flashed there, and then the one damning piece of evidence.
“Uh oh,” Paris said, the second he saw it.
Tessa agreed. “He’s a bad dude, and according to the FBI. They have one picture.”
It opened.
Dimitri gasped.
They all stared at him, then the picture, and then back at him again.
Chris was the first to speak. “I’m going to take a long shot at this one, family. I’m going to bet that Dimitri’s father spread his sperm around even more. He looks like you, Dimitri.”
Emma saw it. “He has your eyes, and Kat and Nat’s too.”
Yeah, he saw it.
It made him ill, but not because his vile father had procreated with yet one more woman. That he expected. This was so much more.
“I take it back. I do know him.”
“What?” Greyson said. “How?”
“When we were leaving ‘Aquarius’ yesterday, I saw him. He was there. Inside.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded.
“We have a huge problem,” Emma stated. “He might be your brother, and if he is, and he’s the buyer?”
Dimitri glanced over.
To him, it wasn’t a problem. It was simple.
“Then he’s dead.”
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
He met him in the park. They were heading out to do their thing, and he was their drop off. “Is she in the trunk?” he asked, passing the man the money.
“Yes, and the other one?”
“I dumped her. No one will know she was mine. While I enjoyed her, you really need better stock. She didn’t last nearly as long as you promised. I need someone who will be able to handle my…urges.”
The man stared at him in disgust. He didn’t like him at all. In fact, he was someone he wished they never began doing business with in the first place.
He was a deviant.
And that was saying a lot since perverts were their specialty.
“You realize they might connect her to us, right?” he asked. “This makes our lives very difficult.”
He laughed. “That’s not my problem,” he said, holding out his hand for the keys.
He palmed them.
Viktor didn’t like that this man wanted a face to face meeting. He normally wouldn’t have done it, but he wanted to tie up some loose ends.
The man being the biggest one.
No one had seen him yet, and he’d like to keep it that way for as long as possible.
He knew his brother.
His reputation preceded him.
“Thank you, and I’ll be going, but first…”
He shoved the shiv through the man’s ribs, puncturing his heart. There was that gasp of surprise as he was lowered to the bench, and then he died within seconds.
Viktor pocketed the blade, and wiped his hands on his handkerchief.
“We are done doing business, for now. I need to move along after I handle some family business. No offense, but you’re running a sloppy business, and I don’t like sloppy.”
He began walking away, and he was all smiles as he waved at the women in the park, and grinned at the little kids.
He had a new girl, and he was going to have some fun.
Well, later.
Now it was time to handle his brother, and the two girls he tried to save.
Only, their luck was running out.
And soon.